Computer and/or electronic files are typically organized using directories which associate file names with files, often by connecting the file name to an index in a file system or the like. Directories are often hierarchical and may contain any number of subdirectories. A directory may organize electronic files on a server, hard disk, portable media or any other storage means. Further, a directory may be a virtual directory for organizing and accessing files in any number of remote or distributed sources.
Directories and subdirectories allow users to organize and group electronic files (e.g., by topic, client, matter, etc.) so they may be more quickly located. However, difficulties still arise when attempting to locate a particular file within a subdirectory or folder having numerous files. Users must generally subscribe to a particular file naming convention to allow a desired file to be readily recognizable. For example, a user may include any one of a file description, client, author and/or date in a file name so it may be easily recognized in the directory. Additional naming conventions are often necessary for multiple versions of the same file (e.g., file1-revA.doc, etc.).
File management systems or managed directories may be employed to assist in identifying files in directories. Generally file management systems provide an interface for users to search, open and edit a specific electronic file based on a user provided title, keywords or other file criteria. The file management system associates the title and keywords with a particular file in a directory. However, the actual file name of each particular file is often an unintelligible collection of numbers and/or letters assigned by the file management system. Therefore, should a user need to access the directory and/or file location directly, a file can only be located by manually opening and viewing each and every of file of the desired type in the directory until the desired file is found.
Some preview applications are also available for users to preview a representation or thumbnail of certain electronic files in a directory. For example, Microsoft Windows Explorer provides thumbnails and a “Filmstrip” function for viewing image files in a directory folder. Filmstrip arranges thumbnails of the images along the bottom of an Explorer window, with the currently-selected image in a larger preview above it. A user may then selectively view enlarged thumbnails of each image file in the folder. However, this feature provides only a means to preview thumbnails of digital images and is not applicable to other files types. Further, users may not edit or resave the images.
It is therefore desired to provide an improved system and method for navigating files in a directory.